Tanada v.

Tuvera, 146 SCRA 446 (1986), 

 
FACTS:

 Petitioners Lorenzo M. Tanada, et. al. invoked due process in demanding the disclosure of a
number of Presidential Decrees which they claimed had not been published as required by Law. 

 The government argued that while publication was necessary as a rule, it was not so when it was
otherwise provided, as when the decrees themselves declared that they were to become
effective immediately upon approval.

 The Court decided on April 24, 1985 in affirming the necessity for publication of the decrees. 
The court ordered the respondents to publish in the official gazette all unpublished Presidential
Issuances which are of general force and effect.

 
ISSUE/S: 
 
Whether or not publication in the official gazette is indispensable.

RULING:

YES. The very first clause of Section I of Commonwealth Act 638 reads: "There shall be published in the
Official Gazette ... ." The word "shall" used therein imposes upon respondent officials an imperative
duty. That duty must be enforced if the Constitutional right of the people to be informed on matters of
public concern is to be given substance and reality. The law itself makes a list of what should be
published in the Official Gazette. Such listing, to our mind, leaves respondents with no discretion
whatsoever as to what must be included or excluded from such publication.
The publication of all presidential issuances "of a public nature" or "of general applicability" is mandated
by law. It is a requirement of due process. It is a rule of law that before a person may be bound by law,
he must first be officially and specifically informed of its contents. Obviously, presidential decrees that
provide for fines, forfeitures or penalties for their violation or otherwise impose a burden on the people,
such as tax and revenue measures, fall within this category. Other presidential issuances which apply
only to particular persons or class of persons such as administrative and executive orders need not be
published on the assumption that they have been circularized to all concerned.

The objective is to give the general public adequate notice of the various laws which are to regulate
their actions and conduct as citizens. Without such notice and publication, there would be no basis for
the application of the maxim "ignorantia legis non excusat." It would be the height of injustice to punish
or otherwise burden a citizen for the transgression of a law of which he had no notice whatsoever, not
even a constructive one.